Multi-material 3D printing has a dirty secret: most desktop machines fake it. They push different filaments through one nozzle and purge a small mountain of waste at every color change. The industry is now racing toward a better answer, and a freshly published Bambu Lab patent application gives us the clearest look yet at where that race is headed. The drawings show a rack of nine spare hotends parked inside the printer, waiting to be grabbed.
A patent that parks nine hotends inside the printer
The application, published as CN 122560413 A on August 14, 2026 and assigned to Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology, Bambu Lab's legal entity, describes a rack that holds spare hotends inside the machine. Its central claim is elegant: the same stroke that unlocks a hotend from the toolhead also seats it in the rack, so one drive does both jobs and a swap loses a step. The priority date is November 6, 2025.
The details are the fun part. Magnets hold each parked head, tilted 15 to 40 degrees off the drop direction so the pull stays weak while the head is moving and only bites once the faces meet flush. A spring latch closes over the head as the toolhead retreats. The extruder opens its drive wheels and releases the filament before the head unlocks, because a clamped filament would be dragged out of the melt zone and block the head. The bed even drops clear for any swap in the first 6 mm of a print. The drawings show nine bays packed closer together than the toolhead is wide, and the claims are not limited to nine.
I want to print one part in multiple materials without babysitting swaps. What are my options right now?
Right now you have three real options: a filament switching system that purges between changes, a hotend swapping machine like Bambu Lab's shipping Vortek system or Bondtech's INDX kits for the Prusa CORE One, or a full toolchanger like the Prusa XL where every head carries its own extruder. Filament switchers are the cheapest and the most wasteful. Hotend swappers keep one shared extruder and trade passive nozzle units in and out, which kills most purge waste. Full toolchangers are the most capable and the most expensive. The new patent sits squarely in the middle category, and it hints that Bambu Lab wants to push that category well past the seven hotends its H2C uses today.
Why the hotend, not the whole toolhead
What parks in the rack is not a complete toolhead. The detachable unit carries the feed tube, heat break, heater, and nozzle, plus its own filament line. The extruder stays behind on the shared toolhead, gripping the filament through a cutout in the unit's side. That makes this a hotend changer rather than a toolchanger in the Prusa XL sense. It is the same passive-tool philosophy behind Vortek and Bondtech's INDX, which heats its nozzles by induction with no wire to the tool at all. Bambu Lab's application keeps a wire to each head but lists induction among its alternatives.
One caution before anyone budgets around this: a patent is not a product. No nine bay machine has been confirmed, and the application names no model, no date, and no price. Patent figures illustrate an embodiment, not a spec sheet.
I only need a few multi-material parts. Do I have to buy one of these machines?
No. If you need a handful of parts that combine rigid and flexible sections, or a printed body with soluble support material, a shop that already runs multi-material equipment can make them for you with no machine purchase and no learning curve. That is exactly the kind of work we do every day at DC Additive Pros. Send us a drawing, a sample, or even a broken original, and we will quote it, print it in the right materials, and ship it from Rockville, Maryland. Start with our build and ship service, and if your part needs to survive heat, chemicals, or serious mechanical load, look at our PEEK and ULTEM printing service.
What engineering buyers should watch
For buyers, the multi-material race matters for reasons that have nothing to do with color. Dedicated hotends per material mean no cross contamination between, say, a carbon fiber nylon and a soluble support resin, and no compromise nozzle temperature splitting the difference between two polymers. Less purge waste also means real material savings on expensive engineering filaments. If the desktop market keeps moving this way, expect multi-material engineering parts to get cheaper and more reliable across the board. That trend helps you whether you buy a machine or buy parts.
By the way, if you make 3D printing hardware, filament, or accessories and want an honest hands-on writeup from a working shop, we review gear here on the DC Additive Pros blog. Reach out at info@dcadditivepros.com.
Frequently asked questions
Can a 3D printing service print one part in two different materials?
Yes. A service with multi-material or multi-printer capability can combine materials in one job, for example a rigid housing with a flexible gasket face, or a complex geometry printed with soluble supports. You only pay for the parts, not the machine.
What is the difference between a toolchanger and a hotend swapper?
A toolchanger like the Prusa XL swaps complete toolheads, each with its own extruder. A hotend swapper like Bambu Lab's Vortek or Bondtech's INDX keeps one shared extruder on the toolhead and trades lightweight passive hotend units in and out of a rack.
Is Bambu Lab actually releasing a nine nozzle 3D printer?
Unknown. The nine bays appear in patent drawings published on August 14, 2026, but the application names no machine, no date, and no price, and patent claims are not limited to nine bays. Treat it as a direction, not an announcement.
How do I get a multi-material part made without buying a multi-material printer?
Send your CAD file, sketch, or physical sample to a print shop that runs the right equipment. At DC Additive Pros we quote from whatever you have, including 3D scanning and reverse engineering of parts with no CAD at all, then print and ship from our Maryland shop.
DC Additive Pros is an independent 3D printing shop. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Bambu Lab, Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology, Prusa Research, or Bondtech. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. Patent details summarized from the published application CN 122560413 A and independent reporting.